Gabby Agbonlahor sympathised with Aaron Ramsdale for losing his place and urged the 25-year-old Arsenal star to leave in January.
Arsenal made an emphatic return to the Champions League after six long seasons without taking part in the competition. Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard got the goals in a 4-0 win over PSV Eindhoven to get their campaign up and running.
Yet, one of the biggest talking points after the game was the situation with Aaron Ramsdale. The 25-year-old Arsenal star was again left out of the starting lineup in favour of summer arrival David Raya, with many believing the Spaniard has taken over from the England international as the club’s No.1.
While many have sympathised with the England international, for he played a massive role in bringing the club back among Europe’s elite. Jamie Carragher took a different route and claimed Arsenal would not win the Premier League with Ramsdale in goal.
Now, that opinion can cause serious debates, as Ramsdale has done nothing wrong in his two full seasons at the club. The fact that Raya may have a better pedigree and experience in playing Mikel Arteta’s style of football. It was a similar situation when the 25-year-old Arsenal star joined the club and when Bernd Leno was playing in goal, which effectively forced the German out for good.
“He has to go and play somewhere!” 👀👋
“Football’s heartless. Now he probably won’t get on the plane in the summer.” 😳
Gabby Agbonlahor urges Ramsdale to leave #AFC in January to make the Euros squad. pic.twitter.com/GEhPLESmAk
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) September 21, 2023
Now, Gabby Agbonlahor on Talk Sport via TBR urged Ramsdale to quit Arsenal and leave in January to play regularly. The former Aston Villa striker cited the examples of Dean Henderson and other unwanted stars at different clubs and asked the 25-year-old Arsenal star to leave the club if an opportunity came.
Agbonlahor said, “100%. [Dean] Henderson left Manchester United and gone to Crystal Palace and he’s got a task to get Sam Johnstone out the side.”
“You have to go and play somewhere; it’s as simple as that, and we said about [Kalvin] Phillips and [Harry] Maguire, but [Aaron] Ramsdale, he’ll be devastated.
“[He] got his team into the Champions League, was a big part of it, football’s heartless.”
On one hand, it does seem like a ruthless decision from Arteta to change his goalkeeper at this stage of the season, but Raya has his merits. In the aftermath of the Everton game, the media has already linked Ramsdale with a move away, but he seems uninterested in leaving the club right now.
The stance could change if Arteta sticks with Raya going forward. Ramsdale does have hope to regain his place in the team, and the manager has repeatedly hinted at goalkeeping rotations this season. However, suppose the Spaniard gets a series of games where he continues to perform well. In that case, the England international’s place is in danger, which is not a good thing, considering the Euros are around the corner.
